Raebareli:
Congress President, Sonia Gandhi is on a two-day trip to her constituency, Raebareli. The leader, is visiting homes and meeting people to know the status of central government sponsored schemes and also take part in Panchayat meetings.
Sonia Gandhi visited the house of Abhishek Jaiswal, a die-hard Congress supporter who died last month of burn injuries. Abhishek was only 15 years old.
In fact, young Abhishek was noticed by Priyanka Gandhi because of the work he was doing for the Congress party but also because of the passion he had for it. She even mentioned him during the campaigning in the recent Lok Sabha elections, and even made him meet her kids.
"Abhishek wished that if he got well he would go visit Priyanka Gandhi and also wanted to do something remarkable for the Congress," said Reshma, Abhishek's sister.
It's perhaps gestures like these that symbolise and strengthen the bond that Sonia shares with the people in her constituency. Sonia asked Abhishek's sister to not get perturbed and also assured her of any help that was required.
But the rest of the day was a whirlwind tour of her constituency, where she enquired about implementation of several centrally funded schemes, like at a school in Barwariya village where she was unhappy with both the quantity and quality of mid-day meals.
She also heard out several women who complained that they are not getting jobs under the NREGA, a scheme meant to give jobs to the rural poor.
On the second day of her visit, Sonia will continue to take stock of the problems facing her constituency.